Disposable hygiene articles, such as sanitary napkins and panty liners, are normally packaged individually in, for example, an easy wrap or a single wrap. Individual packages facilitate hygienic carrying of single articles for future use, e.g. in a handbag. The edges of the individual packages can sealed by means such as ultrasonic welding or heat welding. Further, the packaging units are often used both as a means for packaging an unused article and for disposal of the used article.
It is desirable that used articles of this kind can be disposed of discretely and hygienically. This may be particularly important when the user lacks the possibility to dispose of the used article immediately after the used article has been replaced, e.g. when there is no waste bin available in the toilet area. In this case, the user may need to put the used article in e.g. a handbag or backpack, which requires that the package is adequately sealed in order to avoid staining and odour.
To solve the problem of providing a single wrap that may be both used for packaging of a new and unused hygiene article and for safe and hygienic disposal of used hygiene articles, the use of “POST-IT-like” adhesives (low-tack, reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive) has been shown to be useful as sealing means for the individual wrap packages.
WO2013/162430 A1 discloses such a packaging unit in the form a single wrap that can be used both for packaging of a new and unused hygiene article and for safe and hygienic disposing of used hygiene articles. The packaging unit is in the form of a sheet provided with adhesive in a certain chessboard pattern for closing and sealing the packaging unit. Such a sheet may be fabricated by providing a blank of sheet material on which, for example, adhesive is applied and cutting the web into individual sheets of material for forming the packaging unit.
Although the prior art packaging unit to some extent may alleviate the problems of providing a safe and hygienic packaging for unused as well as used hygiene articles, there is still a problem of providing adequate closure and sealing of the package by the use of adhesive, wherein the packaging unit may be undesirably opened and may have loose flanking edges and/or corners making the packaging unit unattractive to look at and to manipulate. It has also been shown that the manufacturing process of a packaging unit described in WO 2013/162430 may be adversely affected by the presence of adhesive on the packaging unit. For instance, during the folding step, the adhesive arranged at the edge portions of the packaging unit may be caught by the folding tool, which will either cause a transfer of the adhesive from the packaging unit to the tool, or will lead to an inaccurate folding. In both cases, manufacturing of the packaging unit will be impaired.
Thus, there is still a need for further improvements of packaging units so as to provide a packaging unit that is easy to produce as well as reliable to use and aesthetically appealing.